When I speak to audiences, my message is one of humor, healing and hope. I believe that with faith, prayer and a sense of humor we can survive anything. I think we would all agree that laughter is a good thing. However, it is underestimated and underutilized as a natural way for us to take care of ourselves. I don't think God gave us a sense of humor just for grins. I think God gave us this gift (and it is truly a gift) to heal our minds, heal our bodies and cope with life's experiences.

It's a proven fact that when you laugh, the brain releases endorphins into the blood stream the same way they are released when you take a drug like morphine. We can control the dose and it's free! What part of this do we not understand? Laughter to relieve pain is not a new idea. The ancient Greeks built their hospitals next to amphitheaters to benefit their patients. When we laugh we remove negative ideas, release anger, clear our minds and get a fresh look at a situation. It's not rocket science but it is a method we somehow forget to use. The very first emotion we express as children is crying. This happens when the doctor or nurse slaps us on the bottom in order for us to breathe. But when is the first time we laugh? Is it learned behavior or is it natural? Somewhere along the way we learn to suppress these emotions. I think we have become what I would call an "emotionally challenged" society. We have people literally walking around on medication so they don't feel anything. Then we have those people who FORGET TO TAKE THEIR MEDICATION...they can be scary!!

I want to suggest that we need to start "thinking funny." As you go through life, look for the humor in situations. I know too well that when you are depressed the last thing you feel like doing is laughing...or looking for humor. Crying is good therapy too. If you need to cry, get back in bed or watch a sad movie, and then get over it. The crying has to stop so you can begin to heal. Pain is mandatory but suffering is optional. Have your pity party and then give yourself permission to laugh again. There is a chapter in my book Laughter, My Drug of Choice entitled, Give It Up - God Has the Remote. We are so busy trying to be in control and we have so little control over what happens in life...but TOTAL control over how we react. In this chapter I talk about various things that happened in my life. The biggest crisis I have faced so far was losing my dad to cancer. He had moved in with my daughter and me, and he died at home with the help of Hospice. Even in this devastating situation, we found time to laugh. It actually kept us sane. My dad had a tremendous sense of humor. I think it was Carol Burnett who said, "Comedy is sometimes just tragedy plus time." The excerpt below is just one of the stories having to do with my dad's death.

About one week after Daddy died, I got a call from the funeral home saying that his ashes were ready to be picked up. This felt very strange. I drove to pick him up not really sure what to expect. I went inside to ask where I was supposed to get him; thought maybe they had a pick up window like Sears. About that time, one of the funeral home employees comes out with Daddy. He was in a brown container, like an ice cream carton, inside a purple velvet sack (like Crown Royal comes in). I reached out to take him and the funeral home employee said he would carry him to the car. When we got to the car I said, "Should he ride up front with me?" He said that he thought he would ride better in the trunk. I popped the trunk and realized it was full of dishes - so appropriate that Mother and I both have an obsession about dishes. We don't cook, but we set a cute table! Well, here I had to unload dishes to make room for Daddy. He rode home okay, but I felt bad about him being in the trunk. I knew he was loving the whole thing though. I brought him inside and arranged him on the floor among the baskets and flowers. My mother, the decorator, says you should arrange things in three's or five's and he made three in the corner.